Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt

In response to slow growth in the agricultural sector and as part of a general shift towards a more market-oriented economy, the Government of Egypt started liberalizing the agricultural sector in 1987. Controls over wheat production and marketing were eliminated and wheat producer prices were broug...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kherallah, Mylene, Minot, Nicholas, Gruhn, Peter
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 1999
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161265
_version_ 1855526088727330816
author Kherallah, Mylene
Minot, Nicholas
Gruhn, Peter
author_browse Gruhn, Peter
Kherallah, Mylene
Minot, Nicholas
author_facet Kherallah, Mylene
Minot, Nicholas
Gruhn, Peter
author_sort Kherallah, Mylene
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description In response to slow growth in the agricultural sector and as part of a general shift towards a more market-oriented economy, the Government of Egypt started liberalizing the agricultural sector in 1987. Controls over wheat production and marketing were eliminated and wheat producer prices were brought closer to international levels. As a result, there has been remarkable increases in wheat crop area and yields, causing wheat production to triple from 1986 to 1998. This study analyzes the results of a survey of 800 Egyptian wheat farmers in order to address three issues that are of interest to agricultural reform policy in Egypt. First, what are the patterns in wheat production and marketing that have emerged following the economic reforms? Second, why is the government unable to purchase more than a small portion of national wheat production? Third, how does wheat supply and input demand respond to wheat and input prices? The survey indicates that Egyptian wheat production is based on small-scale farms, yet these farms are highly commercialized and the use of inputs such as labor, fertilizer and irrigation, is intensive. The government has problems reaching its wheat procurement target because most of the wheat produced is consumed in the rural areas and farmers prefer to sell to traders because of better prices and location. Econometric analysis of the survey data suggests that wheat farmers respond significantly to crop and input prices. The estimated own-price supply elasticity is 0.3, implying that the use of price policy alone to pursue wheat self-sufficiency would be costly and ill-advised.
format Artículo preliminar
id CGSpace161265
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 1999
publishDateRange 1999
publishDateSort 1999
publisher International Food Policy Research Institute
publisherStr International Food Policy Research Institute
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1612652025-11-06T06:18:21Z Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt Kherallah, Mylene Minot, Nicholas Gruhn, Peter smallholders wheat yields econometrics agricultural policies In response to slow growth in the agricultural sector and as part of a general shift towards a more market-oriented economy, the Government of Egypt started liberalizing the agricultural sector in 1987. Controls over wheat production and marketing were eliminated and wheat producer prices were brought closer to international levels. As a result, there has been remarkable increases in wheat crop area and yields, causing wheat production to triple from 1986 to 1998. This study analyzes the results of a survey of 800 Egyptian wheat farmers in order to address three issues that are of interest to agricultural reform policy in Egypt. First, what are the patterns in wheat production and marketing that have emerged following the economic reforms? Second, why is the government unable to purchase more than a small portion of national wheat production? Third, how does wheat supply and input demand respond to wheat and input prices? The survey indicates that Egyptian wheat production is based on small-scale farms, yet these farms are highly commercialized and the use of inputs such as labor, fertilizer and irrigation, is intensive. The government has problems reaching its wheat procurement target because most of the wheat produced is consumed in the rural areas and farmers prefer to sell to traders because of better prices and location. Econometric analysis of the survey data suggests that wheat farmers respond significantly to crop and input prices. The estimated own-price supply elasticity is 0.3, implying that the use of price policy alone to pursue wheat self-sufficiency would be costly and ill-advised. 1999 2024-11-21T09:54:32Z 2024-11-21T09:54:32Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161265 en https://doi.org/10.1016/S1094-5334(03)05010-6 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Kherallah, Mylene; Minot, Nicholas; Gruhn, Peter. 1999. Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt. MTID Discussion Paper 32. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161265
spellingShingle smallholders
wheat
yields
econometrics
agricultural policies
Kherallah, Mylene
Minot, Nicholas
Gruhn, Peter
Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt
title Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt
title_full Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt
title_fullStr Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt
title_full_unstemmed Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt
title_short Adjustment of wheat production to market reform in Egypt
title_sort adjustment of wheat production to market reform in egypt
topic smallholders
wheat
yields
econometrics
agricultural policies
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/161265
work_keys_str_mv AT kherallahmylene adjustmentofwheatproductiontomarketreforminegypt
AT minotnicholas adjustmentofwheatproductiontomarketreforminegypt
AT gruhnpeter adjustmentofwheatproductiontomarketreforminegypt